scifiknitter

This is a rant. While it may be based on some articles that I have read lately, don't expect me to link to references. I believe that we have a severe structural problem in our economy and as a result, people are not getting value for their money, specifically for their tax dollars. In my opinion, we have become a two class society, but it's not the classes you might think, rich and poor. It's people with security and people without. I think of the people at the auto shop who repair my car. They do excellent work. Whatever health insurance they have, though, is whatever the business owner can afford to buy in the private sector. And whatever retirement they have beyond Social Security must be financed with money that they invest themselves. Good luck with both of those things. Meanwhile, I have a defined benefit government pension and a decent government health insurance plan. I pay for part of my insurance, but the rest is paid with tax dollars. Tax dollars paid by me, but...

Yesterday was Do-My-Daughter's-Income-Tax Day. Well, I planned on it being Do-Her-Taxes-In-2-Hours-And-Do-A-Bunch-Of-Other-Stuff-Too Day, but that didn't quite work out. I knew her taxes were gonna be a bitch. She had a 1099 for her research work from this summer, with nothing withheld, not even Social Security and Medicare. AND she had international income. I figured ol' trusty TurboTax would come to my rescue and lead me through the mess. Hahahahaha! As they say, software is only as good as the knowledge of the persons designing AND using it. This particular tax "expert" missed the fact that her research income was in box 3 of her 1099 ("Other income") rather than box 7 ("Nonemployee compensation"). I have received so many with box 7 entries, and typed so many with box 7 entries, I didn't SEE that my daughter's 1099 was different. She was the one to get on Google and figure out that this should be handled as scholarship income rather...